WA, Feb. 19, GNA – The Chief Director of Upper West Regional Coordinating Council, Mr Gilbert Nuuri-Teg, has directed the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) in the Region to educate commercial property owners on the need to acquire fire certificates and appliances.
The directive seeks to ensure that the fire-fighting body intensified its public education on fire safety measures to help minimise the risk of continuous fire outbreaks in commercial enclaves to protect lives and properties.
The Director was speaking during a soiree organised by the GNFS that brought together several fire officers, Journalists and other stakeholders to socialise and help the Service to strategise for the year 2019.
« The Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) would always support the fire service in the discharge of its duties and will also encourage Municipal and District Assemblies to support the activities of the fire service, » Mr Nuuri-Teg said.
He added that the RCC had laid down plans to construct structures for fire stations and drill mechanised boreholes for easy access to water in the assemblies without fire stations and charged the officers to be professional in the discharge of their work and unite in dealing with challenges.
The Upper West Regional Fire Service Commander, Mr Gaddiel N. A. Ebonyi, said 2018 was relatively successful as compared to previous years, saying the GNFS in 2018 performed well.
The 2018 period saw the regional fire service recording 161 fire incidents as compared to 204 in 2017.
He attributed the performance to education on fire safety and introduction of other interventions that brought down fire outbreaks to the barest minimum.
« Even with this achievement, we are not complacent; we know we have to constantly improve to meet our expectations for the public to appreciate our role and for the state to invest more in us by way of training and provision of modern equipment, » Ebonyi said.
He urged residents to apply collective leadership and join forces to uproot undesirable fire incidents
